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Thursday, June 21, 2012

The power of health insurance

If you wondered what life was like without health insurance? Here's a little statistic: 26,000 Americans die prematurely each year due to lack of health insurance. They didn't get preventive care or they didn't get needed care. Many of these are caused by high premiums or denial of coverage.

As we await the Supreme Court's decision on healthcare reform, what do we do for those people who die prematurely if the act is struck down, all or in part? I am not saying the healthcare act as proposed is right or wrong, I just think the current system is broken.

I know you can blame people like me with a million little bitty ailments who are driving up health care costs with all my medical adventures. But I do feel everyone should be able to get health insurance if they want it. Call me optimistic but it would be nice.

1 comment:

"I am not saying the healthcare act as proposed is right or wrong, I just think the current system is broken."

You're not saying the act is right or wrong... but you just want *something* in place cos you think the current system is broken.

That's how the idiot in the White House now got elected. People didn't know WHO should occupy the big white house on Pennsylvania Avenue... all they knew was that they didn't like the guy who was in there at the time.

You can't just put in any ole "change" simply for change's sake... or you could be throwing us all under the bus with something that's worse.

Just as a little aside:

I had an ovarian cancer scare. A friend of mine had an ovarian cancer scare. We both went to the same oncology gynecologist... the best in the area. We both had surgery. It took us two years to pay off OUR hospital & doctor bill because we had insurance. Used every bit of our tax return & every spare penny we could save, to pay the deductible & the 20% we owed, of the bill, after that. My friend? She had one of those "get out of jail free" cards in her wallet. You know... the ones issured by the state. She didn't have to pay one single DIME for her surgery.

Another added aside:

My youngest daughter just had an arteriovenous malformation burst in her head. Yeah, a cerebral hemorrhage at age 14. You guessed it... life-flight helicopter ride to a huge children's hospital, a week in intensive care, open brain surgery coming down the pike to remove the AVM. Our out-of-pocket will be at LEAST $20,000 if not more. You know... since we have the good insurance & all! The kids in the rooms on both sides of our daughter? Critically-ill like she was... same doc... mommies had the infamous govt. cards in their wallets, with no baby daddies in sight. They won't owe one thin dime for their treatment & we'll probably have to sell our house to pay off the balance on ours... a house that took 36 years of marriage to finally own.

So... uhhh... you're exagerating when you say people are dying from lack of treatment. At least not where I live they're not. The only people dying are those of us idiots who work for a living & have insurance. Those who have the magic cards in their wallets, issued from the government, are doin' just fine, thank ya!!

One more thing... the nurse in the intensive care unit, where our daughter was for a week, was chatting with us on the midnight shift one night. She said that 60% of the patients in this HUGE children's hospital are on state aid & therefore the hospital doesn't get paid anywhere near what it actually cost, to care for the state-aided patients. The solution, she said, is to be forced to charge the people WITH insurance double what would be a normal fee, in order to recoop some of the money the state doesn't pay for the others!! Nice, eh??!! She said if they didn't do that, the hospital would undoubtedly close... because the govt. sure isn't helping to keep it open.

Now let's have EVERYBODY on that same coverage, shall we?!!

Yes, the system is a grand freakin' mess but it's those of us with legitimate insurance who need the vaseline for when we bend over... and not the people without insurance.

You want our insurance? You can have it... along with the premiums that go along with it, as well as the $18,000/yr that comes out of my husband's paychecks in the form of taxes to fund those magic little cards that other people carry... which "buys" them the same treatment WE have to pay for out of our own pockets.

Change, baby... sure, let's have more of it without thinking through the consequences, shall we??!!

Quotes

Don't worry about failure. Worry about the chances you miss when you don't even try.

Of all the things I've lost I think I miss my mind the most.

Flowers make me smile

Blog info

If you want to follow my story and ramblings through the medical world, you need to start reading the oldest post first which is at the very bottom or you can jump to it by going to June 2007 and look for 'My Big Announcement'. I started this blog so I could keep my friends and family up on my dealings with breast cancer but now it has evolved into my take on the medical world as well as my medical ups and downs. I have not listed my email address but if you know me, you know how to contact me. I always welcome emails. You can also find me on Twitter @carolinemfr and on Facebook. Otherwise, feel free to leave a comment!

But no I do not write about suggested topics or other people's blogs or other ailments so do not bother asking. Sorry.